Conventionally, to accommodate frames of content (text files, images, etc.) that exceed the horizontal/vertical boundaries of a display unit, a user would move or scroll the content through a display window, using a graphical user interface provided for on the display.
This scrolling of the content provides the user with an continuous view of the moving content in a contiguous manner as the user manipulates the graphical user interface; essentially moving the content upward or downward. In this manner, the viewable portion of the content is continuously changing as new portions of the content become viewable.
An example of a conventional scrolling content moving operation is illustrated in FIGS. 1-3. As illustrated in FIG. 1, a display device 10 includes a display area 20. The display device 10 may be a touchscreen display (the user interfaces directly with the displayed content by touching the display area 20) or a traditional display device, such as a LCD panel, plasma panel, cathode ray tube, etc. (the user interfaces indirectly with the displayed content through a visual pointing device 70, which is displayed in the display area 20—the visual pointing device 70 may be controlled by a mouse or other conventional user input device).
The display area 20 may display content 60 in a window 30 created by an application or other software, as illustrated in FIG. 1. The window 30 may also include navigational graphical user interfaces or icons to enable a user to navigate the displayed content 60.
As shown in FIG. 1, the navigational graphical user interfaces or icons may include a scroll up activatable area 42, a scroll down activatable area 48, a vertical jump activatable area 44, a vertical navigation bar 46, a scroll left activatable area 52, a scroll right activatable area 58, a horizontal jump activatable area 56, a horizontal navigation bar 54,
As illustrated in FIG. 2, the content 60 to be displayed may not always fit within the window 30. As shown in FIG. 2, the content 60 includes a portion (black text) that is viewable within the window 30, and a portion (greyed text) that is not viewable within the window 30.
To view the non-viewable portion, conventionally, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the user would activate the scroll down activatable area 48 causing the previously viewable paragraph starting with “Carolina” to move upward in a continuous fashion as long as the scroll down activatable area 48 is active (activated by the user). Eventually, the previously viewable paragraph starting with “Carolina” (grayed text) is not viewable within the window 30, and the previously non-viewable paragraph starting with “The air” (black text) becomes viewable in the window 30.
As illustrated in FIGS. 1-3, scrolling is generally an operation wherein data (content) contained within the window 30 is moved with respect to its apparent position within the borders of the window 30.
For example, if the window 30 is sized such that only half the content can be viewable, through the use of scrolling controls, the other portions of the content can be progressively brought into view. In other words, the content of the viewable area can be controlled by the operator in both the vertical, and potentially the horizontal directions, within the window 30. However, the scrolling process does not necessarily emulate the mechanics of actually reading a hard copy of the content.
In a conventional hard copy format, the reader subconsciously synchronizes the movement of the eyes to read down the page at a specific line frequency, absent break points and unintentional interruption and perturbations that can be disruptive to the period of the line reading frequency. The act of turning a page of a hard copy document is an anticipated event, whereby the reader proactively prepares to go to the very top of the next page once the last line has been read, thereby always retaining their place in the document.
On the other hand, scrolling, as compared to actually reading a hard copy document presents issues with respect to the reader maintaining a sense of location within the document. More specifically, as the reader scrolls the content, due to the lack of physical breakpoints (such as an end of page) or other visual clues, the reader has to re-orientate themselves after each scrolling operation to the new viewable content in the window.
For example, using conventional scrolling, a user reads or views the displayed portion of the content, as viewed within the window from top to bottom, and then, after reading or viewing the last bit of content displayed in the window on the screen, the user invokes a software command, with either a keystroke or a pointing device, that causes the content being currently displayed to move in a vertical or horizontal direction so that new content becomes viewable in the window.
However, since the conventional scrolling operation does not provide any visual clues as to location within the content, the reader needs to reposition their view position within the window. This is because the newly displayed content essentially enters the window from a particular direction and is stitched to the previously viewed content in an endeavor to provide a sense of continuity in the content. This has been conventionally realized by the user reading or viewing previously read or viewed content to provide the reader with a point of reference and consistency; however, the consistent need to re-read or review previously read or viewed content can be frustrating to the reader and slow the actual reading process.
In other words, the user has to search for their previous viewing position according to the last bit of content read or viewed, each time a scrolling function is executed, thereby exasperating the user and creating an unproductive situation as the conventional scrolling operation can directly interfere with one's natural reading or viewing rhythm.
In addition, when using a conventional touch/flicking content moving system or device, the display screen does not necessarily provide visual activatable areas to initiate content movement, as illustrated in FIG. 14.
In these conventional touch/flicking content moving systems or devices, the direction, amount, and/or speed of content being moved is based upon a sensed direction of an object (typically a user's finger) moving over the touch display 30 and/or a sensed inertia and/or a sensed speed or acceleration of the object moving over the touch display 30, as illustrated in FIG. 15.
More specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 15, the conventional touch/flicking content moving system or device sensed an upward direction of the object being moving (or flicked) over the touch display 30. The sensed inertia and/or a sensed speed or acceleration of the object being moving (or flicked) over the touch display 30 caused the content to move a full paragraph.
In these conventional systems, the sensed inertia and/or a sensed speed or acceleration of the object being moving (or flicked) over the touch display 30 can cause the user to lose track of the last bit of content read or viewed.
Thus, it is desirable to provide a scrolling and/or touch/flicking content moving system or method which provides the visual clues of the traditional hard copy document so as to substantially reduce the exasperation realized by the reader and to provide a productive environment when viewing content using a scrolling and/or touch/flicking content moving function.